Now that the San Antonio Independent School District has chosen Broadway SA Investors as the buyer for its five-acre property bordering the historic Lavaca neighborhood, residents and business owners say they are looking forward to what’s coming, even though that's a great unknown, even to the developers.

Broadway SA Investors is the real estate arm of Silver Ventures, the equity investment firm owned by billionaire Kit Goldsbury that transformed an abandoned industrial site into the mixed-use success story known as the Pearl.

Home to the Culinary Institute of America, the acclaimed Hotel Emma, two dozen popular restaurants and bars, upscale residential and office space, the 22-acre Pearl development was named a Global Award Excellence Winner last year by the Urban Land Institute. It has been a catalyst for investment and development along Broadway Street and into the Government Hill neighborhood.

Many expect nothing less from this new development in Southtown, although Lavaca Neighborhood Association President Cherise Rohr-Allegrini is quick to say this project is not “Southtown Pearl.”

“That might scare people,” she said. “This [tract] isn’t the size of the Pearl, but given that Silver Ventures has done a project like the Pearl, we know they are very in tune with restoring historic buildings and also very conscious of working with the neighborhood.”

At .79 acres, the smaller of the two lots that Broadway SA purchased in Lavaca is zoned for residential use. Broadway SA Investors said it would either develop homes on this lot to fit the neighborhood or partner with or sell to a home developer to do the same.

The other, at the corner of Cesar Chavez Boulevard and Alamo Street, is 3.95 acres zoned for office use. That lot already has been earmarked for a multipurpose development and Broadway SA said that it could perhaps serve as a special entrance tothe Southtown neighborhoods of Lavaca and King William.

"We have no immediate plans for this site and it could be years before anything is done," said Bill Shown, Silver Ventures’ managing director of real estate. "Until we talk to you, nothing's happening. Just because there’s a void doesn't mean there are any machinations behind it. We've spent 16 years [developing] the Pearl. We take a long time."

When SAISD trustees chose Broadway SA’s $14.5 million offer over four other bidders on Feb. 20, the agreement allowed the district to continue using the property for a little more than two years as it works to build a consolidated central facility elsewhere.

That timetable also gives Broadway SA Investors time to work with stakeholders in the area on how the land, which includes two historic buildings, is developed.

“The historic buildings on this SAISD property represent the history and character of Lavaca as well as serve as the gateway into our neighborhood,” Rohr-Allegrini wrote in a statement following last week’s announcement. “Silver Ventures has indicated the redevelopment of this property will be a slow and thoughtful process that will involve the neighborhood communities.”

Silver Ventures Managing Director of Real Estate Bill Shown.

The developers will meet with Lavaca neighbors on March 20, she stated. “They are very open. They don’t have any specific plans yet. We feel pretty confident they will continue to work with the neighborhood community to develop something that is definitely thoughtful and in keeping with the neighborhood character as well as being on the border to downtown.”

Rohr-Allegrini is hoping for more retail development rather than restaurants, plus a mix of housing types. “It’s more important for residents to have the elements of daily living within walking distance, and right now, we don’t have that so much,” she said. “We’re not a hotel district and don’t want to be. We’re not a tourist zone. We’re the oldest neighborhood in San Antonio. We want to preserve the area for residents.

“We, as a neighborhood association, will definitely push to have a certain percentage of any apartment dwelling to be workforce housing and market-rate housing, a mix similar to what we have in other developments in the neighborhood.”

Stephen Yndo has lived and worked in the area since 1983. He owns a commercial real estate firm with offices on South Alamo Street and specializes in the acquisition, disposition, and development of mixed-use properties.

“They are absolutely the best possible buyer, in my opinion,” he said of Broadway SA Investors. “One, they are local and … second, Silver Ventures, by virtue of who they are, has the financial wherewithal to not be driven by short-term deadlines and short-term returns, which is typically the enemy of good development.”

Yndo, who serves on a working group of Mayor Ron Nirenberg’s Housing Policy Task Force, feels the development is a win for residents and the livability of the neighborhood even as it heralds an increase in property values and taxes.

“The way the [state] tax code is written, it hampers a city’s ability to cap values in a neighborhood where things are rapidly progressing or do any of the things we need to protect home values,” he said. “The only way to lower taxes is to throw bricks in the window. The neighborhood is either getting better or worse. There’s no stasis, and when things improve, taxes are going to go up.”

He also pointed out an additional benefit to the surrounding area: SAISD is getting $14.5 million from the sale. “If we’re ever going to solve some of our problems in the inner city relative to poverty, taxes, and housing, the only way to solve that is with money, and that money comes from development in our district.”

Scott Ball / Rivard Report

Properties sold to Silver Ventures by SAISD include historic buildings.

Rohr-Allegrini said the Lavaca Neighborhood Association also will work to ensure no one is pushed out by rising property taxes. “It’s a worry because it’s always a worry, but the new development isn’t going to change that,” she said.

Michael Berrier, who for 33 years has owned a Lavaca home listed on the National Register of Historic Places, said he is excited about the development, based on what he has seen at the Pearl. His only concern how traffic and parking will be managed.

“I know that Mr. Goldsbury and Mr. Shown will respect our small, historical neighborhood. And I know that our political leaders will do so as well,” he said.

Scott Ball / Rivard Report

Michael Berrier and his wife Suzanne Martinez live within steps of the property in Lavaca.

“We are very hopeful, because it is the team at Silver Ventures that will be doing the project, that it will be something very thoughtful and congruous with our efforts at Hemisfair, so that will be good for the park,” said Andres Andujar, CEO of Hemisfair.

“The other point is, because the TIRZ is dedicated to bringing funding for the maintenance and operation of the park, knowing this team does things well – including good financial decision-making – the value of the development will be such that there will be good contribution toward the park operation.”

Andrew Goodman, co-owner with Stefan Bowers of Rebelle at the St. Anthony Hotel, as well as Southtown restaurants Feast and the fire-station-turned-eatery Battalion, which sits adjacent to the SAISD property, had heard rumors of the sale in December. When the buyer was announced, Goodman said he texted his neighbor Shown his congratulations and suggested they start talking about future plans.

“We are pretty happy it’s Silver Ventures, because everything we’ve seen them do is first class,” Goodman said. “And they’ve engaged the community [in discussion]. If not, that could be a disaster for the area. They are going to be very respectful and that’s going to be positive for all of us.”

King William Neighborhood Association President Chris Price said he hasn’t heard much talk – positive or negative – among residents about the development yet. The Lavaca property lies just east of King William and west of Denver Heights.

“I think they obviously have been highly successful at the Pearl and surrounding areas, so I think that speaks well for what they are capable of doing and their vision for this property,” he said.

Goldsbury, the Pearl visionary, is CEO of Silver Ventures and also started the San Antonio-based Goldsbury Foundation in 1996.

The private family foundation focuses its contributions on a culinary education program for children, according to its website, and City Education Partners, a nonprofit that provides grants to public schools, including SAISD's Advanced Learning Academy in downtown San Antonio.

Christine Viña is an urban planner and architect who has lived in Southtown neighborhoods for 22 years and served as executive director of Southtown Urban Main Street Program, a nonprofit revitalization effort, from 1996-2000. She said that area residents and stakeholders have a longstanding tradition of active urban-planning engagement and will be a great resource for the development team.

"This development is one of the last large assemblies of land in the neighborhood for the foreseeable future," Viña said. "It is important that the ‘right’ development responds in scale and massing to the single-family character of Lavaca ... as well as to Hemisfair, and the important public realm between them – in other words, how the development addresses Cesar Chavez at the pedestrian scale."

Few seem to doubt that won't happen. “I felt a huge sense of optimism and relief knowing this property was going into the right hands,” said Laura Clark-Arguijo of Urban Nest Realty, when she first heard of the agreement. “There’s not a development group in the city that holds higher esteem than Silver Ventures.”

Clark-Arguijo, who specializes in residential real estate in the Lavaca and King William areas, said every person she has talked to – even some of the developers whose bids were not accepted – is excited about what Silver Ventures will do with the property.

“I expect the project to be as engaging for this community as the Pearl has been,” she said. “It is a huge deal. Having a project like this south of downtown says volumes.”

Disclosure: The King William Neighborhood Association is a Rivard Report business member. For a full list of supporters, click here.

4 thoughts on “Southtown Neighbors Ready to Welcome Pearl Developers”

To suggest that my only concern is parking and traffic is not accurate. In offering my observations, I expressed concern with the architecture of the project, and the building materials. In size and scale, the architecture…that facing Lavaca Street…should reflect the character of the historical buildings. And the materials should reflect the quality of the materials evident in those same buildings. Silver Ventures track record in developing Pearl suggests that they will be responsive to these concerns.

I rented in Lavaca for a few years with constant construction on all sides of me. There were 5 properties contingent to ours and 4 began construction after we signed a lease and moved in. 3 were renovations, 1 was a knock down, and 1 was ground-up new construction. Like 7 days a week with no break. Landlord said our only option was to move out but lose our deposit. I would love to name that person right now publicly. Anyways, code says construction noise is allowed 5 days a week, 6am-10pm. This was completely ignored on every project. I tried to go to the city to get them to send code enforcement out to say hey, don’t deliver lumber in an alley off of an 18-wheeler flat bed at 5am, to no avail.

The workers who would hang around until 8pm wouldn’t even share one of their beers –and they would down a case of beer in front of our house in the street every evening. Yeah I think if you’re going to drink an entire case of beer outside of my house you could share one with me. Or at least ask if I mind conjunto blasting through my windows from 7am-8pm every day. Or that m wife can’t park her car because there are 8 trucks double parked in an alley preventing residents from getting to their own houses. Eventually I got loud speakers and blared bagpipes from our front porch to see if they enjoyed my enrichment. They didn’t. Weird.

One thing that people should address, especially this community, are enforcing code when it comes to safety and noise during construction. You will have to do it as a neighborhood or individuals will just suffer. Everyone whose building over there assumes they are the first ones or the only ones with an important project. Code enforcement and police aren’t interested in noise complaints to be honest. I tried.

The question now is not just should new building happen. It’s happening. The changes are coming but you can address how much you suffer during. Trust me you don’t know how bad it can be until someone is ignoring your peace and quiet non stop for months. Couldn’t afford rent in that neighborhood anymore so we moved out. For a minute I was upset about having to move out of Lavaca but now I’m somewhat relieved.

Richard, I’m sorry for your experience. For any others who are having negative experiences *outside* the approved hours, please contact the neighborhood association so we can investigate. Code enforcement should have responded.

Since buying our house in 2004 (renting since 2002) in Lavaca, there’s been some form of construction within a few hundred feet almost continuously, including our own house. However, it’s never been outside established hours as that IS a code violation. Construction noise is par for the course in a revitalizing neighborhood, but it should never violate the codes which are there to protect residents.

Sorry, I meant 2 were renovations and 1 was knock down, and 1 was ground-up. It’s kind of cool you can’t edit comments on here because it holds you to what you say, but I would love to be able to find mistakes and correct without posting my extra explanation.